The present invention generally relates to a brake pedal adapted to provide simulated brake feel. Specifically, the present invention is a brake pedal for a brake by wire system wherein the brake pedal is adapted to provide force feedback to an operator to simulate the feel of a conventional brake system.
In a conventional vehicle, a brake pedal is connected to a hydraulic braking system, whereby pressure applied to the pedal compresses brake fluid within the braking system to actuate the brakes of the vehicle. In this type of system, as the pedal is depressed, the force necessary to further depress the pedal increases because the pressure of the brake fluid within the system increases. This provides a brake feel to the operator. The operator has a physical sense of how hard the brakes are being applied due to the amount of force that the operator is exerting to the brake pedal.
In brake-by-wire systems, there is no physical connection between the brake pedal and the brakes on the vehicle. The amount of force that the operator exerts is not the controlling factor, rather sensors within or attached to the brake pedal sense movement of the pedal and send a signal to a controller which activates the brakes of the vehicle electronically. These systems typically lack the brake feel provided by traditional systems. Some techniques have been developed to mimic the brake feel of the traditional braking systems such as connection the brake pedal to an electric motor to provide modulated resistance. Unfortunately, many of these types of techniques offer only a flat line resistance which does not truly emulate the increasing resistance of a traditional brake pedal. More complicated systems involve many components which cause packaging and weight concerns for the manufacturer of the vehicle. Therefore, there is a need for a brake pedal adapted to emulate the brake feel provided by traditional brake pedal systems.